Starring - Jose Elias Moreno (The Magnificent Beast, Black Wind), Carlos Lopez Moctezuma (Death in Cold Blood, The Vampires of Coyoacan), and Armando Silvestre (Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy, Amityville Playhouse)
Release Date - 1969
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Warning - this film contains scenes of extreme and explicit violence"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
Last year I was fortunate enough to review two different releases featuring the films of Mexican filmmaker Rene Cardona. Earlier last year VCI Entertainment sent over the Batwoman and Pantherwomen double feature for me to review. Both films were an experience but they wasn't for me. Sometime later Vinegar Syndrome released the Cardona Collection box set featuring Treasure of the Amazon, The Bermuda Triangle, and Cyclone. Honestly, I enjoyed the hell out of this set and was impressed by how much I actually enjoyed it. A few weeks ago VCI Entertainment announced another double feature with two more Cardona titles. This time around it was Night of the Bloody Apes and Doctor of Doom. I had never seen either title so I reached out to my friends over at MVD and they were kind enough to send a copy my way. I couldn't wait to dig into Night of the Bloody Apes. Like always I want to thank them and VCI for supporting Horror Society.
The film follows a scientist who is trying to save his drying son from certain death. He turns to the local zoo where he steals an ape's heart and transplants it into his son in hopes of prolonging his life. It oddly works but only for a short time. His son slowly starts to mutate into an ape and goes on a murderous rampage. A local luchadora finds herself wrapped up in the murders and must act fast to stop the killer before he can strike again.
Honestly, Night of the Bloody Apes was not as fun as I had hoped. In fact, I found it to be very underwhelming. The movie itself is a remake of Cardona's earlier film Doctor of Doom but the inclusion of stock medical footage does not fit the film at all. It could have been something more enjoyable if it followed the source material but these additional scenes completely breaks apart the pacing of the film. The acting in this one is surprisingly well done. I enjoyed the characters and how much they brought to the film. The characters fit the story very well and their personalities worked just enough to make the scenes a little more enjoyable. Lucha films are hit and miss with me because of the characters but this one was surprisingly enjoyable that regard. The story for this one has so much potential especially considering it was a remake by Cardona of one of his earlier films. However, the pacing and flow of the film is completely destroyed by stock footage used featuring surgical procedures. I love gore and nothing wrong with incorporating real surgeries into a film but this one was not done that well. It has a different look than the rest of the film which completely ruins the effect it was going for. I would have rather had the film be dry than feature this. Finally, the film, as I stated earlier, the film does feature stock footage of surgeries in all it's bloody glory so hardcore gore hounds will find some thrills with that but if you are looking for practical effects you will find little here. We get some odd make-up effects and blood but that's the extent of it here. Overall, Night of the Bloody Apes wasn't for me. The pacing is all of the place but the story has so much potential. It could have been one hell of a campy drive-in era film but chose to go the shock value route which was a huge disappointment. I wanted to like it but couldn't. Skip it.
No comments:
Post a Comment